As I was working on the Devils Lake Journal pages last week, I came upon the Dakota Datebooks and one certainly caught my eye. I cut it out of the list so I could comment on it, here it is:
“DAKOTA DATEBOOK: Minot Derailment
Jan. 18 — On this day in 2002, at about 1:45 a.m., a catastrophic train derailment occurred on the western edge of Minot, with tragic and long-term consequences for nearby residents and liabilities for the Canadian Pacific Railway and insurance companies.
There is hardly a quieter quiet than an early January morning in North Dakota, with sub-zero temperatures, and snow falling on snow. Nor cleaner, fresher air. Freight trains and aircraft in Minot routinely interrupt such conditions, but on this particular morning an earth-shaking explosion shattered the quiet and the fresh air was displaced by an unprecedented release of foul fumes.
Most people slept through the familiar sound of locomotives laboring to pull 112 loaded railcars. It was a routine run from Edmonton, Alberta to St. Paul for train CP292-16. The conductor and engineer detected the first hint of a malfunction as they felt the locomotive’s wheels rolling over a rough spot. Wheel after wheel hitting the spot made it seem like they were going “over a washboard.”
They knew immediately something was wrong, and applied the brakes. Seconds later the middle part of the train left the tracks and all hell broke loose. About 30 cars derailed and crashed into each other, pivoting at their connections and folding like a carpenter’s rule. The momentum of the rest of the train caused some of the massive cars to be hurled hundreds of feet through the air.
Fifteen of the derailed cars were tankers, each carrying about 30,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia, a hazardous chemical commonly used on farms as fertilizer. Any farmer knows how carefully it must be handled, and how damaging it can be to human tissues, especially lungs and eyes, in the event of a leak. Seven of the fifteen tankers were ripped open, instantly releasing more than 200,000 gallons of ammonia.
Within minutes the liquid vaporized and a massive toxic cloud began drifting into the nearby neighborhoods of Minot
What followed was a cold, dark, choking, confusing, horrible nightmare for those who lived there. To make matters worse, the wreck took out power lines, cutting electricity to homes. Outside, the dense cloud reduced visibility to zero. Some thought a plane had crashed. Others thought there’d been a terrorist attack. They had no choice but to stay put. Death resulted for one person who tried to flee.
Thousands of 911 calls were recorded that awful night. It took hours for the toxic cloud to dissipate and for all to reach needed medical treatment. In the end, hundreds were injured from exposure to the ammonia, some severely. The death toll would have been higher without the heroic efforts of neighbors, strangers, and emergency workers.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the train wreck, and found it was caused by inadequate track maintenance and inspections. Specifically, there was a crack in a joint between sections of rail that wasn’t noticed by inspectors, and the joint failed. Canadian Pacific officials disagreed with the safety board’s finding that maintenance was inadequate, but conceded the derailment and hazardous spill was unprecedented.
This Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm”
Louise’s reflection:
For me, it was one of the mornings I had to drive to Bismarck for a meeting with the Bishop and his staff, so I decided, because it was pretty cold, I would go to Bismarck the night before and stay in my favorite motel and enjoy a relaxing evening going out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in Bismarck, the Hong Kong, just across the street from the Comfort Inn.
I was the Diocesan Director of Campus Ministry and in charge of the Newman Centers at both Minot State and Dickinson State Universities, a position I had held for over a decade.
When I arrived at the Diocesan offices that morning in time for the meeting, I was met with looks of concern and inquiries from nearly everyone, about how I was doing, “Are you okay?” Oblivious to what had happened in Minot that night, it was my coworkers on the Bishop’s staff who told me about the train derailment and accident in Minot.
I always traveled with my little dog, Murphy, but had left my cat Tigger, at home alone. I was more concerned about the students who rented rooms from me at the Catholic Student Center because on the news reporters were saying that when the toxic cloud lifted, it was possible that everyone in the valley would be dead or dying. Apparently the chemicals in the toxic cloud were heavier than air, so they settled into the lower lying areas of Minot. My home and the Catholic Student Center across the parking lot were smack dab in the lowest part of the city in the valley half a block from the river.
The Jim Hill Middle School on South Hill had been designated as one of the places to receive the bodies of the deceased and they were in the process of obtaining hundreds, maybe thousands of body bags. We learned this much later, however.
As the morning progressed, we held our meeting and we prayed for everyone who had been injured, possibly killed in this terrible accident – and, yes, I did rejoice that I had come to Bismarck the night before and was far away from the danger. We learned that although the toxic cloud had dispersed somewhat, it was taking a lot longer to lift and dissipate than they thought. What would they find when it finally was safe to go down into the valley between North Hill and South Hill, where the cloud had settled?
If I’m honest, I think I was in a bit of shock, because it all seemed so unreal.
Eventually, however, we learned that there weren’t hundreds or thousands dead, and maybe because it was winter and most homes in North Dakota are pretty tightly insulated when the doors and windows are closed, few people noticed problems inside their homes. Those who did, were advised to minimize the use of their furnaces and intake fans. If you had access to local radio broadcasts they kept informing people to keep their doors and windows closed, even to seal them with tape like duct tape, if they experienced seeping into their homes. If someone did get exposure, they were to stand in the shower in their bathroom and allow the water to wash out their eyes, nose and mouth rinsing the exposed areas with warm water. They kept up a constant cycle of informing people what was happening and what to do if you had to go outside although advising to stay indoors and safer.
We learned later that there were heroic people who put themselves in danger out of concern for others, like the waitress at the truck stop in Minot, who wet a few bar cloths to hold over her face so she could breathe as she went from one idling truck to another to warn the drivers sleeping in their cabs of the dangers of the fumes. I heard that she did suffer some burns from the toxic fumes, but that she did recover from those burns. Miraculously many people who were injured also recovered. Also miraculously I believe only one person died in this disaster. When the all clear was called and they would allow us back into our homes in the valley, I found nothing had changed in my little house. Tigger (my cat) was okay and everyone that I knew in the valley was fine. One of the students who lived at the CSC panicked during the ordeal and spent quite a bit of time in the shower, but after seeing her medical provider it was determined that she suffered more from anxiety rather than actual exposure. I bet she wasn’t the only one!
This Dakota Datebook reminded me of this incident and although it was 22 years ago, I recall it quite well. It’s one of those experiences in our lives where you “remember where you were and what you were doing” when it happened – a pivotal moment. How quickly could our lives have changed in a moment had this disaster turned out differently. It’s definitely something to think about.
